What REALLY happened behind the scenes on our Rita Ora cover shoot

Ever wondered what happens behind the scenes on a celebrity cover shoot? Well you're in luck. Rita Ora took a break backstage on our September shoot in LA to tell us everything from what she sings in the shower to when she feels sexiest.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

So what else happened on the day?

The location

"This house is amazing," exclaimed Rita when she arrived at the Malibu beach house we had hired for the day. Right on the seafront, it even had its own Slim Aarons style swimming pool. But our plans to shoot Rita outside were slightly ruined because of the weather. Oh the weather!

LA (yes the city that never rains) was overcast, grey and raining when we all arrived at the house at 9am on a Saturday morning in June.

Lottie Lumsden/Cosmopolitan

But ever the pro, Rita shrugged the rain off and hit the beach with our photographer Max in tow, keeping warm in between takes in the personalised Stewart & Strauss jacket we had made for her.

Hair and make-up

Rita spent two hours in hair and make-up. She had just wrapped on filming the second and third installments of 50 Shades. She was due to have the hair extensions she had worn for her role as Mia removed two days later. So Brent Lawler, who was styling her hair, cut it into a choppy bob at the shoot.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Lottie Lumsden/Cosmopolitan

Later that night Rita was straight off to perform at LA Pride Music Festival and Brent gave it a quick touch up before she headed to West Hollywood Park.

Cosmopolitan

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

The clothes

We shot her in everything from Max Mara, Zadig & Voltaire, Alberta Ferretti, Tezenis and some amazing pieces from her A/W collection for Adidas Originals. Check out the hoodie - it's perfect for winter. The plan was to mix luxe tailoring with feminine lingerie.

Cosmopolitan

The food

Given the hideous weather we all needed some tasty food to warm us up. On set we had breakfast burritos and an incredible fruit platter followed by chicken salad and lasagne for lunch. There were also some amazing chocolate brownies to keep us going through the afternoon.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

After the shoot

We finished the shoot at 6.30pm sharp because Rita needed to prepare for her performance at LA Pride. Lottie, our Entertainment Director, and Amy, our Fashion Director both headed to West Hollywood Park to watch her surprise performance at midnight with best friend Charli XCX.

Rita had changed into a black spaghetti dress over a white T-shirt and hit the stage in the middle of Charli XCX's set to sing their hit Doing It. The crowd loved it. And so did we. At 1am it was home time for us – and Rita.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Cosmopolitan

*Pick up a copy of the September issue of Cosmopolitan to read our interview with Rita